Author: BEX Staff

By Jane Stewart for Arizona Builder’s Exchange DMB Circle Road Partners, LLP have requested the rezoning of a 2.28 gross acre parcel at 15450 N. Scottsdale Road from Intermediate Commercial with a Planned Community District (C-2 PCD) to Planned Unit Development. The parcel, “located in the Paradise Valley Village Core and Council District 2 in the City of Phoenix,” is approximately 400 feet north of the NWC of Scottsdale Road and Kierland Boulevard with direct frontage onto Scottsdale Road. La Maison Interiors, a 25KSF furniture store, currently sits at this location, but in its place there soon could be “a…

Sales Transactions 1. The 740-room Arizona Biltmore resort has been sold for $403.4M. The purchaser was Blackstone Real Estate Advisors. 2. Winning bidder D.R. Horton Inc. paid $79M for a 269-acre, state-owned parcel, east of 56th Street and north of Deer Valley Drive. The site was appraised for $54M. Four builders bid for it. 3. The 412-unit Arrowhead Summit apartment complex near Arrowhead Towne Center in Glendale has sold for $60.55M. The apartments were sold by North 79th AZ Partners LLC to ASVRF Cortland Glendale LLC. 4. Institutional Property Advisors, a division of Marcus & Millichap, announced the sale of…

By Roland Murphy for Arizona Builder’s Exchange My first exposure to A/E/C as a business was working for a large format document view and markup collaboration company from 1999-2001. Back then, in the heady days before the tech bubble burst, there was a near mania for just about any process-improving solution. Construction tradeshows filled half the Javits Center in NYC and show sponsors would hold demolition derbies with Caterpillar D-9s. What was neat was that the featured products were no longer earth movers and galvanized piping. They were software solutions. For the first time, construction companies – and, much more…

By Roland Murphy for Arizona Builder’s Exchange Gilbert’s Planning Commission held a study session earlier this month to examine a proposal by Pacific Medical Buildings to develop an 80KSF medical office building on the Mercy Gilbert Medical Center Campus. If the project goes through, Phoenix Children’s Hospital will be the primary tenant with 30KSF of clinic space and 15KSF of administration area. According to town documents, “This project is planned in conjunction with the new approximately 350KSF freestanding Women’s and Children’s tower project that will be licensed by Dignity Health and Phoenix Children’s Hospital.” Zoning is PF/I, Public Facility/Institutional, which…

Awards & Accolades The Arizona Republic has released its list of Top 25 Designers influencing Arizona. 2.  Sara Yehia of Dekker/Perich/Sabatini is now a licensed architect, having passed all her required board exams. 3. Camelot Homes and Robson Communities were named the 2018 Builders of the Year (Grand Award) at the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona’s recent MAME Awards (Major Achievements in Merchandising Excellence) ceremony. In addition to the Grand Award, Camelot received nine other honors at the ceremony. This is the third time Camelot Homes has won the Grand Award. Previously, Camelot Homes has won the Small Volume Builder of…

Awards & Accolades The Tempe Town Lake Western Dam Replacement project won top honors at the American Council of Engineering Companies’ 2018 Engineering Excellence Awards Gala on April 17. Called the “the Academy Awards of the engineering industry,” ACEC’s EEA program honors the year’s most outstanding engineering accomplishments. Completions 2. Ryan Companies US, Inc. completed a 271KSF regional headquarters for McKesson, which is now home to more than 2,000 employees with room to accommodate nearly 2,200. Ryan is now breaking ground on a third building adjacent to the two-story, twin buildings at Chaparral Commerce Center with capacity for approximately another 200 jobs…

By Gabriela Rico for Arizona Daily Star After more than seven years of discussions with and concessions to area stakeholders, local developers are moving forward with a project that will bring new apartments, office space and retail to Tucson’s Fourth Avenue and University Boulevard. The development, dubbed The Trinity, will sit on two sides of Trinity Presbyterian Church, 400 E. University Blvd., on excess land the church is selling. The first phase of the project will be construction of a three-story office building along University Boulevard, between the church and Time Market, said Randi Dorman, with R+R Develop. She and…

Source: Arizona Department of Transportation The votes are in and Arizonans have selected the winners of the Arizona Department of Transportation’s Safety Message Contest. After tallying more than 2,500 votes for the 15 safety message finalists, the winning messages are: BUCKLE UP BUTTERCUP ROAD RAGE GIVES YOU WRINKLES CAMPING IN THE LEFT LANE ATTRACTS BEARS “Buckle up, buttercup,” received the most votes and the other two tied for runner-up. All three messages will appear on overhead signs statewide through the weekend. “It was very heartening to see so many people engaging with safe-driving messages during the contest,” ADOT Director John…

Sales Transactions 1. Working on behalf of the Griffin Capital Essential Asset REIT, Griffin Capital Co. has acquired the McKesson Scottsdale Campus from Ryan Companies US Inc. for $67M. Cushman & Wakefield’s Chris Toci, Chad Littell, Greg Mayer and Jim Wilson represented the seller in the transaction. The deal was done with 1031 exchange proceeds from the disposition of DreamWorks Animation’s Headquarters and Studio Campus, which the REIT sold last November for $290M. 2. Institutional Property Advisors (IPA), a division of Marcus & Millichap, announced the sale of The Met at Fashion Center, a three-building, 303-unit multi-housing investment property in Chandler,…

By Roland Murphy for Arizona Builder’s Exchange Arizona’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was unchanged 4.9 at percent in February and March, according to the latest report published by the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity. The national rate also remained steady at 4.1 percent. Twelve months ago, the state had a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.1 percent, and the national was at 4.5. The state had a net gain of 12,300 non-farm jobs over the month. The private sector gained 14,100. Eight of the 11 sectors tracked showed gains. Government was the biggest loser, dropping 1,800. Construction in Arizona gained 900.…